November Bookstore Sales Continue Slide

Posted Thursday, Jan 16, 2003

Bookstore retail sales for November 2002 continued the downward slide begun in October. November sales of $1,173 million lagged 4.8 percent behind the $1,233 million for November of the previous year.

While not robust, overall retail sales managed to eke out a slight gain. Overall retail sales for November were $303 billion, or 1.7 percent better than the $298 billion of the previous year.

November is the 10th month in a row in which bookstore sales failed to keep up with overall retail.

2001-2002 RETAIL SALES for BOOKSTORES (unadjusted)

Period
2001 Final (Millions of Dollars)
2002 (Millions of Dollars)
% Increase 2002 Over 2001
January
1,698
2,188
28.9
February
1,163
1,117
(4.0)
March
1,165
1,126
(3.3)
April
1,034
1,043
0.9
May
1,188
1,229
3.5
June
1,201
1,156
(3.7)
July
1,124
1,140
1.4
August
2,035
1,965
(3.4)
September
1,570
1,620
3.2
October
1,140
1,107
(2.9)
November
1,232
1,173 (p)
(4.8)
YTD
14,550
14,864
2.2

(p) Preliminary figure

Note: Estimates reflect sales of all types of participating bookstores, including trade, college, religious, chain stores (including superstores), and others. A bookstore is defined as any retail establishment with sales comprised of more than 50 percent new books and periodicals, and estimates include sales of all products in these stores.

Source: Bureau of the Census, Current Retail Trade Branch.

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